A baby girl was born with HIV and treated at UMC. A doctor tried three anti-viral drugs at once, and more than two years later, she was cured, hospital officials said.

Dr. Hannah Gay and her work with researchers at Johns Hopkins Research Hospital are receiving international attention for the monumental breakthrough. The child's name has not been released, but hospital officials said she is 2½ years old and has been off HIV drugs for about a year with no signs of infection.

16 WAPT News reported the breakthrough on Sunday, and it was the banner news of an AIDS research news conference Monday in Atlanta. But Gay said there's more work to be done before she will know if the result can be replicated.

"We are hoping to follow up with her and design some studies with other patients and see if we could see how we could do this for other babies in the future," Gay said.

"This has very important implications for pediatric HIV infection and the ability to achieve a cure, so we think we should be able to replicate this," said Dr. Deborah Persaud, of Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

If the child remains healthy, it would mark only the world's second reported cure. Doctors don't usually give high-dose treatment right after birth, before first confirming that a newborn really is infected.

"This is a huge step and I think people will compare that to the first heart transplant," said Associate Vice Chancellor of Research Dr. John Hall. "In fact, it may have a greater impact."

UMC is hoping the breakthrough will lead to an increase in research funding.

16 WAPT News reported that on the day of a news conference to make the big announcement, UMC received word of a 35 percent cut in funding from the Ryan White Foundation as a result of federal budget cuts.

The Mississippi State Department of Health said the money from the Ryan White Foundation is on hold and that money, called Part B money, is for treatment of HIV patients in Mississippi, not for research.

Thirty-five percent of the Ryan White Foundation money has been approved for use in Mississippi. The rest is in a holding pattern because of federal budget issues related to sequestration.

The FY 2013 funding was $14,251,507 and the Mississippi State Department of Health said it anticipates level funding this year.